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Percival Borde

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Percival Borde
Born(1922-12-31)31 December 1922
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Died31 August 1979(1979-08-31) (aged 56)
New York City, U.S.
EducationNYU School of Arts
Occupations
  • Dancer
  • choreographer
EmployerBinghamton University
Spouses
Joyce Guppy
​
​
(m. 1949, died)​
Children2

Percival Sebastian Borde (31 December 1922 – 31 August 1979) was a Trinidadian dancer and choreographer. Emigrating to the United States after meeting Pearl Primus, he performed for the Pearl Primus Dance Company and on Broadway before making his dance company debut in 1958. He established a reputation for promoting African-American dance and drew from his Afro-Caribbean roots as a creator. He was also an associate professor at Binghamton University and involved with several non-profits.

Biography

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Borde was born on 31 December 1922, in Port of Spain, located in the then-Colony of Trinidad and Tobago, and raised in Trinidad.[1] His parents were the son of Augustine Francis Lambie and veterinarian George Paul Borde.[1] He was educated at the Queen's Royal College and worked at the Trinidad Government Railway.[1]

A researcher on Afro-Caribbean dance, Borde joined the Little Carib Theatre in the 1940s and served as director in the 1950s; DeFrantz said that Borde "took easily to dancing and the study of dance as a function of Caribbean culture".[1] He also danced for Beryl McBurnie during then.[2] After being discovered by dancer Pearl Primus, he moved to the United States at her suggestion.[1] He toured for the Pearl Primus Dance Company, including in Europe, and helped teach Caribbean dance at the Pearl Primus School.[1] He also appeared as the African Chief in the 1956 Broadway adaptation of the novel Mister Johnson, as well as on television.[1]

On September 23, 1958, Borde's own dance company made its premiere at St. Mark's Playhouse;[3][1] they continued performing through the month and October 1958, with their work involving several African and Caribbean dances.[4][5] He established a reputation as "as a leading male figure in Afro-dance", and became popular in the African-American media.[1] In 1959, he toured Africa and co-founded the Konama Kende Performing Arts Center in Monrovia, both alongside Primus.[1][6] In 1969, he worked at the Negro Ensemble Company as that season's resident choreographer.[1] He produced a New York State Education Department-sponsored program called Talking Drums of Africa,[1] which performed in places like Kansas and Maryland in 1970.[7][8] Other events he appeared at include the Caribbean Arts Festival and the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.[9]

Borde's creative work drew from Afro-Caribbean roots,[3] and would often use ethnographic approaches towards African-American character archetypes.[1] He frequently performed Earth Magician, a four-part piece involving four characters of color.[1] One piece he performed for over two decades, "Impinyuza", was a strutting dance inspired by Tutsi warriors.[3][1] DeFrantz called Borde a continuation of both Primus and Katherine Dunham's legacy of promoting anthropologically-research dance performances and said that his "masculine stage presence and dynamic performance style" promoted public attention to African-American concert dance.[1] Dunning described him as "a leading exponent of black concert dance since the late 1950's".[9] John O. Perpener III said that Borde's "roles as performer, manager, fellow researcher, and school director became a central part of [Primus'] life".[10]

In 1975, Borde obtained a bachelor degree from the NYU School of Arts, where he also studied for a master degree.[1] He was an associate professor of theater arts and black studies at Binghamton University, where he was one of its most popular teachers and "remembered as a big, exuberant man who danced through the classroom in a dashiki, prodding his students on with a big stick and an inexhaustible fund of good-humored sarcasm".[9] He also taught at Columbia University's Teachers College and NYU School of the Arts,[9][1] and directed SUNY Binghamton's dance program.[11] He was also a board member for the Congress on Research in Dance,[11] as well as executive director for the Pearl Primus Dance Language Institute.[9] He was also affiliated with non-profit Youthbridge, being one of their founding staff and later a consultant.[12]

Borde was married to Joyce Guppy from 1949 until their divorce, and his next wife was Pearl Primus.[1] He had two children, one from each marriage;[1] his son from his second marriage was percussionist Onwin Borde.[13] During the 1959 Africa tour, Vai[11] chief Sondifu Sonni christened Borde with the name Jangbanolima (lit. "a man who lives to dance").[1][14] Borde and Primus later lived in New Rochelle, New York.[9]

Borde died of a heart attack on 31 August 1979 while at the Perry Street Theater in New York City to perform "Impinyuza";[a] He was 54.[1] His widow dedicated her Earth performance in March 1981 to him.[15]

Notes

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  1. ↑ Sources vary on whether it occurred during the performance,[11][9] after the performance,[3] or backstage.[1]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DeFrantz, Thomas F. (2000). "Borde, Percival (1922-1979), Afro-Caribbean dancer and choreographer". American National Biography. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1802158.
  2. ↑ Funk, Ray (2008). "Beryl McBurnie: the flowering of La Belle Rosette". Caribbean Beat Magazine. No. 94. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Percival Borde, Choreographer born". African American Registry. Archived from the original on 15 March 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2026.
  4. ↑ Martin, John (29 September 1958). "Borde and Troupe: Pearl Primus Is Guest Artist This Week at St. Mark's Playhouse in 'Village'". The New York Times. p. 31. ProQuest 114535450.
  5. ↑ Martin, John (5 October 1958). "THE DANCE: BORDE: Artist From Trinidad In Engaging Debut". The New York Times. p. X12. ProQuest 114547752.
  6. ↑ Friedman, Jessica (2024). "Recruiting Places: Pearl Primus's Plans for Global Activism through Community-Engaged Dance Theatre". Theatre Survey. 65 (3): 208–226. doi:10.1017/S0040557424000231. ISSN 0040-5574.
  7. ↑ Paris, Barry (15 August 1970). "Africa's Story Told in Dance And Drumbeat". The Wichita Eagle. p. 5A – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Borde is top show". The Capital. 3 June 1970. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dunning, Jennifer (5 September 1979). "Percival Borde, Dancer, Teacher, Choreographer: Aided Public School Programs Good-Humored Sarcasm". The New York Times. p. D21. ProQuest 120725699.
  10. ↑ Perpener, John O. (2012). "Reclaiming Heritage and Healing Through Dance: Pearl Primus and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar". Dance Chronicle. 35 (2): 267–277. ISSN 0147-2526. JSTOR 41723123.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Percival Borde (1923–1979)". Dance Research Journal. 12 (1): 50. 1979. doi:10.1017/S0149767700020015. ISSN 0149-7677.
  12. ↑ "Percival Borde, 56, dies; dancer aided Youthbridge". Bridgeport Telegram. 6 September 1979. p. 38 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Others danced to the beat of his drum: Percussionist formed jazz ensemble Thrust". Montreal Gazette. 7 June 2006. p. C6. ProQuest 434348219.
  14. ↑ Martin, John (31 July 1960). "THE DANCE: IN LIBERIA: Pearl Primus Directs First African Center". The New York Times. p. X6. ProQuest 115069176.
  15. ↑ Anderson, Jack (25 March 1981). "Dance: The Primus 'Earth'". The New York Times. p. C21. ProQuest 121564898.
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